Seasonal lights, such as those used in conjunction with Christmas trees, are well known in the art. These seasonal lights generally use two-wire conductors to provide power to each of the light bulbs on a particular strand. Since insulation covers the entire length of the wire and plug, risk of shock is minimal so grounding is not a major issue.
However, artificial pre-lighted Christmas trees, where the seasonal lights are incorporated on or with the tree, have become a popular alternative to both live trees and unlighted artificial trees. These trees are usually sectional for easy storage, with some lighted trees routing power for the lights up through the trunk of the tree with electrical connectors built into the ends of each tree section to distribute power to each section. This mechanism, although convenient, brings with it the risk of exposed conductors at every electrical junction. If these exposed conductors accidentally make contact with any other portion of the artificial tree, there is a risk of electric shock and other undesirable electrical dangers (e.g., fire).
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a lighted artificial Christmas tree with a 3-wire safety ground connection. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be explained and will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention that follows.